Grey's Anatomy: Stephanie and Alex Put Their Careers on the Line

The doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial will stop at nothing to save their patients -- even if it means putting their own jobs on the line.

On Thursday's episode of Grey's Anatomy, Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Stephanie Edwards (Jerrika Hinton) do exactly that, going against a couple's religious beliefs in order to perform a potentially life-saving operation on their young son, who was suffering from a brain tumor. After the boy makes not one, but two unsupervised trips to the hospital seeking a cure for his headaches, since his parents' religious beliefs caused them to reject medical intervention, Alex and Stephanie make the risky decision to falsify his patient records so that it looks like they rushed him into emergency surgery because he was having a seizure. (Oh, and Stephanie also berates the father and throws a binder at him.) Despite the fact that the surgery saves the boy's eyesight and likely his life, the father threatens to sue the hospital and Dr. Karev.

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The timing couldn't be worse for Edwards, who -- along with all the other senior residents -- is being scrutinized by Minnick (Marika Dominczyk), Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Webber (James Pickens Jr.) as they prepare to make their recommendations for fellowship placement. After noting as part of this process that Stephanie returned to work quickly after her boyfriend died and never received any counseling, and then seeing a terse encounter between Edwards and the boy's father, Minnick flags Edwards as an over-emotional doctor who gets easily triggered with patients. And, after the binder-throwing incident, despite a tearful mea culpa from Edwards, Minnick removes her privileges and orders her to attend counseling.

And Edwards isn't the only resident Minnick's not completely sold on. She also concludes that Ben (Jason George) plays things too safe and doesn't take enough risks to be a truly great doctor. Maybe Minnick will lighten up a bit after she and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) finally get the steamy, sexy night alone they've been highly anticipating? Doubtful.

Elsewhere, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) takes concrete steps to finally move past Derek, first removing the drawing of a giant tumor he gave her from her bedroom and then putting their beloved Post-It note into a drawer. It's all in anticipation of her first time inviting Nathan (Martin Henderson) over, since the last time she tried to have sex with someone in her and Derek's former bedroom, it resulted in screaming, crying, and a half-naked man running out of the house. Surprisingly, Maggie (Kelly McCreary) is super supportive of Meredith moving on and seems to be harboring no resentment about her relationship with Nathan. She even volunteers to spend the night at the hospital so that the lovebirds can bone in the house without worry. Maggie is a much better person than I am!

On a less positive romantic note, DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) invites Jo (Camilla Luddington) out for a beer and starts to awkwardly tell her how much he likes her. But, seeing where the conversation's going, Jo shuts it down and gives him the old "I don't want to ruin what we have" line.

So, where do we leave off with Alex and Stephanie? Alex is on the phone with someone, having a mysterious conversation about trying to get a referral for something. And a fit-to-be-tied Stephanie is on her way to counseling -- where, judging from the previews for next week's episode, she might be taken hostage by a deranged patient. Seems like this operation is going to create a domino effect of disaster.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.